KFC’s Zinger: The World-Famous Chicken Sandwich Is Going to Space

Ever since humans have gazed at the stars, we have had one singular dream: to get a spicy chicken sandwich up there. Finally, KFC and World View are realizing that eternal human dream. KFC has the groundbreaking spicy chicken sandwich, the Zinger. World View has the groundbreaking technology, the Stratollite. Stratollites are amazing high-altitude balloons that can execute a variety of flight profiles, which gives them the ability to do all sorts of amazing things. Things, like, beyond putting spicy chicken into space. Read more about it below.

A world-shaking convergence of spaceflight and fried chicken history is upon us.

Ever since the beginning of history, humankind has looked skyward and dreamed of one day taking its place among the stars. The story of flight has taken us from Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop to the Wright brothers’ trials at Kitty Hawk, straight through to the dawn of the Space Age at Cape Canaveral. Those missions into space are the stuff of legends: Mercury. Gemini. Apollo. Skylab. The Space Shuttle. The International Space Station.

And now . . . Zinger 1.

KFC and World View are joining forces to embark on the greatest fried chicken adventure since Zinger 1 Mission Commander Colonel Harland Sanders founded KFC in 1930 and brought his Hard Way of making delicious fried chicken to the world.

KFC’s world-famous Zinger chicken sandwich will take flight aboard the longest controlled stratospheric balloon flight with a commercial payload in history. It will also be the first-ever multi-day mission of the World View Stratollite flight system.

“Folks who are coming along for the ride and are going to be watching it, they’re actually going to be seeing real aerospace engineering and, to some degree, spaceflight history in the making,” World View CEO Jane Poynter said.

Unlike other high-altitude balloons, Stratollites can execute an array of flight profiles—from circling the Earth to holding position over a specific location—and maintain a position over a desired area for days, weeks, and even months.

Nothing against rockets, but the Zinger launch will show the world there’s more than one way to get payloads to and from space. And what cargo is as precious as a hand-breaded, 100% chicken breast filet, served with crisp lettuce and the Colonel’s mayo on a toasted sesame-seed bun?

“We’re excited to be the ones pushing spicy, crispy chicken sandwich space travel forward,” said Kevin Hochman, KFC U.S. president. “But in all seriousness, we’re proud to support World View’s commitment to advancing space research and trust them to take our world-famous Zinger sandwich to space.”

Lifting the world’s most famous fried chicken sandwich into the stratosphere is a crowning feat in itself, but Stratollites have enormous as-yet unrealized potential. They could serve as stationary Wi-Fi hubs in remote or undeveloped areas that may not have existing internet access, or they could help monitor ongoing crisis situations from previously inaccessible vantage points. Future flights could be used for disaster preparedness and response—from weather predictions to monitoring disaster events to helping first responders with communications and surveying capabilities.

“The Stratollite was created to deliver meaningful access to space for all,” said Taber MacCallum, World View cofounder and chief technology officer. “This mission offers edge-of-space access to KFC, allowing them to embark upon a one-of-a-kind marketing experiment, while we get to pursue our maiden multi-day Stratollite shakedown cruise and open unprecedented access to the stratosphere. It’s a double win.”